The Foods Traditionally Served On Burns Night - Tasting Table

To begin the meal, serve comforting, warm bowls of Cullen skink, a traditional Scottish soup hailing from Cullen, BBC Good Food suggests. Various recipes exist and Scottish chefs have tailored ingredients, substituting water with milk or mashing potatoes to create a thicker texture, per Cullen Skink, a website dedicated to the eponymous dish.

The soup was originally more broth-like and made with scrapings from cattle legs — what the Scots would call "skink" — but as fish became easier to find and use, that ingredient became the main protein for the most widely known rendition. Today, the celebratory starter typically includes haddock, potatoes, milk, onion, and parsley and can be topped with chopped chives and served with toasted bread.

Though this smoked fish chowder is a common Burns Night appetizer, Cock-a-Leekie — a soup made with chicken, leeks, and rice — is another fitting way to start the festive meal (via Christina's Cucina). Either of these soups can warm bellies as guests settle in and begin to read poems and song lyrics. Forever Edinburgh asserts that no two Burns suppers are the same, but before the main dish is brought to the table, bagpipes and applause can fill the air while the host recites "Address to a Haggis" — a work by Burns.